Street, Berlin

Street, Berlin is an oil on canvas that Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted in 1913, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, as part of a group of urban scenes focused on the restless energy of city life and the relations between men and women. The composition shows a crowded street where two women dominate the foreground. The woman on the left wears a purple dress, a splash of colour against the mass of men in dark clothing around them, whose figures blend into one another and lack distinct features. As a result, the viewer's attention settles on the only two figures with a clear identity. Kirchner uses anti-naturalistic tones, such as the pinks and oranges of the skin and the blues and pinks of the setting, typical of German Expressionism. His loose, visible brushwork, a downward-tilted viewpoint and opposing diagonals create distortion and a sense of restless movement, as if the crowd might spill out of the canvas. Kirchner had been a founding member of Die Brücke, a group that dissolved shortly before this work over artistic differences.

Painter

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Date

1913

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

121 × 91 cm

Museum

Museum of Modern Art, New York City

Movement

Expressionism

Genre

genre art

Depicts

road, woman

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